


Understanding

by elsiegiselle



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-01
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-17 20:36:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1401634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elsiegiselle/pseuds/elsiegiselle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Emma, having asked Hook to look after Henry, wants to thank him for taking care of her son. Headcanon for 3x16. Spoilers for 3x15.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Understanding

Emma tries not to look too relieved when Henry walks into Granny’s very crowded diner all in one piece. This is just a normal day for him, thank goodness, but that doesn’t stop her from getting up to greet him with a tight hug when he comes over to the booth where she’s been sitting, nursing a cup of cocoa for the past hour. Hook is in tow, and she nods at him with gratitude. He nods back.

“So what’d you guys do?” she asks Henry.

“We went night sailing! It was so cool; Killian showed me all these constellations through his telescope and explained how you use them to navigate, even in the middle of the ocean.” Henry looks over his shoulder, spotting Mary Margaret at the next booth. “Actually… can I be excused to go talk to Mary Margaret? I want to ask her if we can go to the library tomorrow so I can get some astronomy books. Killian says I could be a great navigator!”

“Sure, kid,” Emma says, running a hand over Henry’s hair, which is soft from all the sea mist. “I’m gonna go talk to Killan for a minute; I’ll be back.” She watches as he scuttles off to sit with his grandparents, then turns to Hook, meeting his ever-intense gaze and nodding for him to follow her outside as she pulls on her gloves and hat.

They step out into the cold, starting to meander down the sidewalk, side-by-side. Emma wraps her arms around herself to keep warm.

“I wanted to thank you for taking care of Henry. Things got a little hairy around here, but it was a lot easier knowing that he was safe.” That you both were safe, she wants to add, but doesn’t.

“It’s nothing. He’s quite a lad,” Hook says, a smile tugging at his lips, hand rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “Reminds me a lot of his father as a boy, the way he took to the stars so quickly.”

Emma doesn’t reply, and Hook looks down to see that his words have nearly brought her to tears. He realizes that he’s upset her, that perhaps he shouldn’t have mentioned Neal so soon. “Swan, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” she says with a smile as tears start down her cheeks. She wipes them away with her glove, and slows to a stop at the street corner, making Hook stop as well. To his surprise, she takes a step toward him and then leans into him, her arms wrapping around him beneath his coat. Initially, he’s stunned, but after a moment he wraps his arms around her, closing his eyes, resting his cheek against her head.

Neither of them say anything; they just stay that way, wrapped in each other’s embrace, until long after Emma’s small bout of tears has died, both feeling the weight of what the other has lost and taking comfort in that mutual understanding.


End file.
